The use of acids and acidic chemicals for killing deleterious organic organisms, such as bacteria, germs, and viruses is well known in the art. Chlorine and hydrochloric acid are especially useful as bactericides and are used universally as cleaning agents. Chlorine is also an effective viricide.
Bacteria play an important role in the deterioration of human foodstuffs. Foods such as fish are particularly susceptible to rapid deterioration, especially at room temperature, and compounds for the preservations of foods or the retardation of bacteria growth have been employed in the past. One of the problems with such compounds is that in certain increased levels, they can be toxic to human beings, thereby defeating the purpose of preserving the foodstuffs.
Because of the extremely acidic nature of some of the bactericides and viricides that have been utilized in the past, oftentimes they can cause skin irritation or other side effects for human begins coming in contact with these compositions, or can even be fatal if accidentally consumed. Chlorine has had other negative implications in terms of the environment, and is not environmentally friendly because of the release of chlorine gas into the environment.